Should I upgrade my RAM or CPU?

g.tuomikoski

Prominent
Feb 8, 2018
2
0
510
I'm a pretty big noob when it comes to desktop computers, as for the majority of my life I had a laptop, and only a few years ago did I get a gaming laptop, which I traded for my gaming desktop I currently use right now.

My computer has a GTX 1070ti, Core i5-4590, and 8 gigs of ram. I upgraded from an R9 280 to a 1070ti.

Yet I noticed, even with one of the top-of-the-line graphics cards, some of my games, which aren't even extremely graphical intensive (like Miscreated, Cities: Skylines, etc) lag and stutter when a lot is on the screen. So I went and did some research, and a lot of people have said upgrading to 16 gigs is necessary in 2018, but it's so expensive, others have said a new CPU like an i7 is ideal. Which should I get? It's one or the other, as RAM is EXTREMELY expensive right now.
 
Solution
get the i7 4790
4790K (if you have Z motherboard)
upgrade ram later
while gaming shut down every other unnecessary task (web browsers etc.) to "save" memory

g.tuomikoski

Prominent
Feb 8, 2018
2
0
510


Will this speed up games? I'm just surprised how much my CPU halts the performance of my graphics card. Thanks!

(but for games like Star Citizen and such, which use up to 20 gigs, probably not gonna fix that haha)
 
it would be better to upgrade both at the same time obviously ,
but 8gb will do for most games and processor is a bit more important in most situations .

well it is a 4th gen quad core with no overclocking and gtx 1070Ti is very powerful video card
it is not a huge bottleneck but in cpu more intensive games and scenarious 4590 is starting to show its advanced age .